ThyssenKrupp freezing all new business with Iran

Because of the harsher sanctions on Iran, ThyssenKrupp AG is freezing all new business with the Islamic republic immediately and will end existing contracts there as soon as possible.

Last Thursday, Ekkehard Schulz, chief executive of Germany's biggest steelmaker, said that in withdrawing its business with Iran, it is showing its support for the sanctions policies of the Federal Republic of Germany, the European Union and the US.

ThyssenKrupp is the latest German company to cut business ties to Iran. Earlier this year, Daimler AG said it would sell its stake in an Iranian engine maker and freeze planned exports to Iran.

ThyssenKrupp made the announcement a day after foreign ministers of major powers informed Iran they wish for an early negotiated solution to the stand-off.

Western nations have been urging Iran to go back to the negotiating table over its nuclear program, which is suspected to be aimed at making nuclear weapons. Tehran asserts that this program is mainly for peaceful purposes.

ThyssenKrupp was partly owned by Iran for several years, from the Shah's regime in 1970s, until the company purchased a sufficient number of its remaining shares in 2003 to avoid being placed on a US government blacklist. [via Reuters]